Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-17
Insanity or Deviltry-WhichP

lm0am1ty or DeVllGEy-"hlC
Just about once in so long time, If not
oftener, John Doe and Richard Roe are
found in the hands of the law, charged
with some offense against the pecae of the
commonwealth. 1t may be that John and
Richard have only been upon that period
ical spree, and under its exhilarating nfiu-
ence were filed with an ambitious desire
to paint the town red. as the idiom
of the day rather tersely and picturesquely
terms it. And so, as the average taste of
community in the matter of colors does not
accord with that of John and Richard, the
restraining hand of the law is placed upon
them, and they enrich tho public purse by
some few ducats, or in default and In lieu
thereof languish for a period in seclusion,
and the community only says, John ana
Richard, You should have behaved your.
selves.
1t may be, however, that the hour Of their
Richard, instead Of painting the town red,
lacked the wherewithal for the prosecution
of that laudable ambition, and SO sought to
replenish their purse by ways which the re-
maipder of the community persistin calling
CROOKED" May be John and Richard
tapped a till, or burglariously cracked a
bank vault, or, if of q rural turn of mind,
borrowed some farmers horse in the still
hours of the darkness, and forgot to return
it by daylight. And again the harsh hand
OF the law lays its grasp upon them, and
John and Richard, after interviewing twelve
good men and true, don the peculiar uni
form of the State, and for few years do
some honest work. Aud again community
wastes no sympathy. but says to the delect-
able twain You should have behaved your
selves You knew what you were doing.
and must take the consequences.
But, suppose John and Richard. instead
of forfeiting the sympathy ofthe community
| lxv al foc hi1o ri fv nv III n q
vault. or borrowing some count yman s
horse without the owners permission, take
it into their heads to kill some one. 1t may
be that John, instead of safe, takes 1t
opinion. to crack neighbours skull, or with
knife or revolver let's daylight through
some poor fellows vitals; or Richard de-
cides that some fond, foolish girl, who has
loved him not wisely but only too well for
her own good. has lived long enough. and
so chokes the breathe out of her battered
body. Now the current turns. 1t becomes
| an awful thing to launch human being
into eternity from the gallows. (They. don't
corpse, with da, light shining through its
gaping wounds, or the poor helpless girl
with scared eye-balls starting from their
sockets, under the murderous grip of the
tightening fingers that clasp about her
sin to na and their aGw wsS sSaahi nto the he
prison cell, sent by tender hearted
damsels. And now goody goody sorts of peo.
pie begin to say that John and Richard
| must have been out of their senses when
they did such wicked thing. And then the
lawyers for the defense take up the plea,
| and show that the maternal grandfather of
John was queer, and that Richard had an
uncle's cousin who, so the neighbors said
| was not quite right And the eloquent coun-
sci proves to the jury that John ana Rich.
ard do not sleep well o. nights, and must
| surely have been insane when the deed was
done. And then his honor from the bench
charges the jury that the prisoner must al
ways be given the benefit of the doubt.
Ard the twelve good men and true, under
the bewilderment of the cross-questioning,
| and the persuasive eloquence of the gentle
men for the defense, and the charge from
Richard are remanded for new trial. And
time goes by, and the public partly forgets,
and important witnesses drift away, and the
proverbial laws delay puts Off the hour of
entered, and John and Richard slip out of
the prison door unpunfshed, again to prey
upon the community, or else receive some
sentence so light that other Johns and r CHI
ards are not deferred from wrong-doing by
the example.
But all the while the breath does not com e
back to that cold body, whose open wounds
are crying for vengeance; and the scared
eyes of the poor pelpless girl, whose life
was remorselessly choked out by the pitiless S
| fingers, still valnly stare upward to the
heavens for the justice which man has de.
| MED.
Gentlemen of the Jury, is it not barely
possible that there was truth in that old
form OF Indictment which said naught OF
mental alteration or insane impulse, bot
which did say that John Doe and Riche I'd
Roe, without the lear of God before their
eyes, and instigated by the devil, did thus
send fellow mortal unsummoned before
his Maker.
Softhearted sentimentalists, there is ar
old book which says: 1.-THE murderer shall
surely be put to DEATH"
| Learned Judge upon the bench, we have
been giving to the prisoner the benefit o.
| lie unavenged, and our prisons are filled
with unpublished criminals. snd life is un
safe upon our streets. Suppose we. try fol
a while the other plan, and when the piles
of insanity is set up give to the community
the benefit of the doubt.-[Southern Cali